The Portland daily press., 1887-05-07
Sailing MINES.
An Old Engineer relatef Queer Stories
Of Western Experience.
rst. Louis Globe Democrat

[St. Louis Globe-Demoerat.l
On another occasion / myself came near
being yictimized. went to examine mine
in New Mexico, and my assays ran rather
high. The mine looked we'll and thought
at first that there could be little doubt Of its
value But with the conservatism which
comes from long experience, determined TO
exhaust every means Of examination and told
the owner that wanted 10 sink the shaft
ten feet deeper and take my samples from
the ore / should find there. He refused to
allow this, and told him would not con-
slider the matter any further, but would
break off negotiations at once. In day or
two he came to me and told me he had
thought IL over and decided to let
me sink ten feet OF fifteen If | wished.
told him that / would go down twenty feet,
and he agreed 10 turn the mine over TO me on
the next day. As was going home that
night at an unusually late hour chanceditO
pass the mouth Of the shaft, and was sur
prised to hear sounds that pr0eeedde from
II, as II some one was churning at the bottom
Determined to discover the cause Of these
unusual noises, crept to the platform and
looked down the shaft.
i saw two men at the bottom, one drilling
a hole and the other working a ehurn-dasher
Soon the drilling ceased, the man with the
churn poured some liquid into the hole and
pounded upon 1t with something like q
churn-dasher. / could hear their converse
ton from where lay, and soon tfound that
what they were doing was Of great personal
interest to me. One said
I'VE ought to have set guard at the
mouth Of the shaft"
Nonsense said his companion, mo one
ever comes here at this hour"
''Well, said the first, he can sink his ten
feet after we get through, and twenty more
If he wants to-"
heard enough, and quietly went home.
Next morning | saw the owner and told him
l did not care to sink the shaft any deeper,
as had decided not TO recommend the mine.
He became very indignant, and talked so Of
fensively that at last / said to him:
"My friend, you had better keep quiet /
was at your mine at 8 O'Clock this morning
and saw what was going on"
His Jaw dropped. he looked at me In sur
prise, and saw that the game was up and left
without a word. The trick he tried TO play
on me Is one well known TO all salters. A
solution Of gold is made by some chemical
process, which will penetrate the hardest
rock TO the depth Of eight or ten feet and
give excellent assays where there isno min
eral at all. 1t is dangerous trick, and one
very difficult Of detection in certain kinds Of
rock.
The case Of Utah mine, the Bassett
believe 1t was called, came very near being
very successful Instance Of sailing, and was
most ingenlOusly managed. This mine had
a vein Of brilliant ore, but the amount was
too small for profitable working. The own
ers determined to salt and sell 1t. ID. o.
Mills, Of California, sent three experts to ex-
anime the property, and as their
reports were favorable, agreed to give $780,
600 for 1t, putting up $4,000 as forfeit.
Just before the time for the final payment
Mills asked a friend Of his who happened to
be going TO that region. to look at the mine
and write him what he thought OF II. This
gentleman went to the owners, who were
very willing to show him over the property
As he went down the shaft he was struck
with admiration at the appearance Of the ore
and thought that Mills had made most
splendid bargain. When about to ascend he
happened to hold his candle close 10 the wall
and saw little flash. At once his eyes were
open to the swindle. The flash meant gun
nysack, and shred OF gunnysack had no
Taking his hammer, he scratched the walls
and in a moment penetrated the envelope Of
ore and struck clay. He repeated this ex-
pertinent all the way up with the same re-
suits until he came near the mouth Of the
shaft, where he found the ore genuine The
owners of the mine had soon worked through
their thin blanket vein and then sunk their
shaft 125 feet through the earth. When this
was done they had taken their ore, which
was Of a consistency about like that Ofcheese
and carefully smeared the.walls of the shaft
with 1t. Nothing could look more natural
You could see the great swelling curves, In
which this kind Of ore usually comes, and
the marks of the pick on the walls. 1t was
perfectly done, and was only discovered by
the accident Of the flame Of his candle com
ing in contact with shred Of the gunnysack
in which the ore had been carried to the bot
tom of the shaft. The gentleman who ex-
amined itlwas so frightened at his narrow
escape from recommending worthless prop
erty that he declared he never again would
engage in expert work.
The last attempt at sailing Of which /
have any knowledge was tried upon me my
self. | was twice sent to mine which bad
twice been favorably reported upon. The
owner received me most Hospitality and In
sisted on my remaining at his house, saying
that his four daughters were very lonely and
would be glad to see me. declined his offer,
but agreed to breakfast with his family the
next morning before examining the mine.
After breakfast the young ladies insisted on
accompanying me and showing me through
the mine. They were very polite, one OF them
going in front OF me and directing me where
to take my samples from. noticed that she
had way of brushing her skirt against
the walls and leaning against them just
before / took sample. l thought this pro-
ceeding rather unusual and watched her
closely. In an unregarded moment she
caught her overskirt upon projection and
pulled 1t back, allowing me to see two or
three little bags which were hidden beneath
it. | said nothing. but soon assembled the
shaft, saying that would complete my ex-
animation the next morning. When / re-
turned they again offered to accompany me,
but declined and they withdrew their re-
quest ON condition that would let them
bring my lamp TO the mine, TO which
agreed. went through the mine, carefully
sampled II and got TO the top of the shaft
before the ladies made their appearance.
then filed sack with ore from the dump
and sat down to wait for them. They soon
made their appearance and we all took lunch
together. One of them asked what | had
in that sack. said that 1t contained my
samples. l soon noticed that two Of the
young girls managed to stand between me
and the sack, while the other was busily
engaged in looking for a ring which she said
she had dropped near it. After lunch /
went to their home with them, taking the
sack with me, which l left on the porch.
just before my wagon arrived to take me 10
town 1 slipped off and got my samples.
called out that had forgotten my sack.
as l had taken others earlier In the day. A
look Of blank surprise came over his face
but drove off before he had time to speak
That night he came to the hotel and con.
fessed the whole scheme. The girls | had
| met were not his daughters, but had beer
| hired to salt the mine right under the noses
| Of the experts. He had provided them with
| porous bags filled with an Madhesiye com
| pound of gold which thew concealed in theiI
| skirts and rubbed against the wall just be-
| fore a sample was taken. They had salted
| my supposed samples, and 1t was my refusal
| to take these to town with me which showed
| the old gentleman that had penetrated his
| scheme. The ways of the salter are various